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It was an early start to the day, as I was up at 7am sharp to make sure that I was showered, packed and had eaten my breakfast ready for the 8.20am pick up for the first day for me on Kiwi Experience! The Kiwi coach picked us up from outside BASE where I was staying! There were many people queuing up for the bus by the time I arrived and I started talking to this English girl who was getting on the same bus, and she gave me some useful information about how the Kiwi bus operates!
After turning up a few minutes late, we all chucked our backpacks on the coach and boarded, I chose a seat just past the middle, and the lad sat opposite me was from Scotland, so we got a conversation going about the general stuff immediately, on this bus there was about 25 people and at least 80% were from Britain, the rest were either German or Scandinavian! The driver of this bus was really cool, they all have nicknames we were told and his was zippy! He started to tell how how the service worked and what the day had in store for us! After picking a few more people up from another couple of hostels, we made our way to the Kiwi Experience office which was in Auckland so that we could all pick up one of their guidebooks with lots of information in them about what the pass includes that each of us had purchased! We also got a timetable so we knew what days the buses were running, but unlike most of the people of the bus I had already got my intinerary planned out as I had already emailled someone at the office! This was also an opportunity for anyone who hadnt had breakfast to get something to eat from the local bakery!
After about 20 minutes here, we set off towards Mt Eden! The pass that I am doing is called the 'Funky Chicken', I kow quite weird and wacky but then all the pass names are crazy! It is quite a complete pass as it means I get to travel to all the best places on the north and south island of New Zealand, the recommended travel time on the pass is about 3 weeks and I have 5 and a half weeks to complete my travel so I am staying longer in each destination than I have to but it will allow me to get a feel for each place and see the country more in depth rather than just getting a taster for each place! The Kiwi Experience bus is a hop of hop off bus service, they take you from one destination to another, stopping at all the worthwhile places in between the two destinations, so that you are never on the bus for more than 2 hours! The drivers will also book your accomodation for you and they have an agreement with a hostel in each destination that guarentees you a dorm everywhere that you visit! They also are able to book various activities for you in each destination if you would like to do them and are able to get discounts on most of the activities as well although the activites are quite expensive, the bus drivers are also really knowledgable and are all Kiwi's themselves so know alot about each place that we visit, especially as they have travelled the same route many times before!
It was only a short journey of about 15 minutes to the top of Mt Eden as it is in Auckland! The maori name for Mt Eden is Maungawhau and it is one of 70 dormant volcanoes in the area! From here we got amazing 360 degree views over the whole of Auckland and were able to see the skytower, the Harbour and the rugby stadium that is to be used in the world cup semi finals and final next year! The views really were incredible but it was very windy up there, as we were incredibly high up! After leaving Mt Eden we made our way to Thames which is a small town in between Auckland and Mercury Bay, here we got to get some lunch in the local supermarket or restaurants, for me it was something from the bakery at Pak'n'save which is a big supermarket chain over here! After the half hour break we were back on the coach as we made our way over the Coromandel Ranges and to Cathedral Cove which is a spectacular coastal walk, which has an amazing beach at the end of it in a secluded area, the weather was amazing also, beaming hot sunshine for the whole day! We spent a couple of hours here and the views out into the sea were stunning, with some of the most beautiful scenery! For the 2 hours we spent here many of us took in the rays, and we also played touch rugby on the sand, but there were a few that went in the water as well and dived off the rocks that were in the middle of the water! After this it was only a 30 minute drive until we arrived in the small town called Mercury Bay, which is the English name for the town but the maori name is Whitianga! The town only has a population of 3,000; one thing that has been very noticable in New Zealand is how sparsely populated it is compared to Britain, there are only 4 million people that live here, and it has a land mass that is slightly bigger than the UK, so it seems as though everywhere is really rural even though they are big cities over here, as there are very few people that live here by comparison to the UK!
Once the bus pulled up outside the hostel, we got a pep talk from the hostel owner and then checked in and got our luggage off of the coach, from here we went into our rooms, there were 2 English girls in my dorm! After getting my luggage sorted out, I went to the local supermarket with this English couple, Charlotte and Tom, whom I had met on the coach! I stocked up on supplies and headed back to the hostel to cook my dinner which was now the usual pasta with pasta sauce that I was getting used to eating for dinner in New Zealand, I just changed the sauce that I used every other day so that there is some slight variation to my meals, and although many people would get bored eating the same thing day in day out, this is something that dosent bother me because I love pasta! Everyone that was on the bus congregated around the kitchen and outside seating area of the hostel, which was called Turtle Cove and was a really good hostel, it was family run but was so clean and tidy and the dorms were really good! There was also free tea and coffee! There was a free pool table so that was occupied throughout the night and I had a game with the Scottish guy I had met on the coach! As it got later most people sat inside, as we watched a movie, nobody went into town as there was no a lot to do locally, so most people had an early night, and once the film had finished, I called it a day as well!
The next day was Saturday, and everyone that was on the coach the day before, departed from Whitanga this day except the English couple, so there was only us 3 that were left from the coach, so I decided to explore the town with them 2 instead of on my own! That is the annoying thing about having an extended itinerary, because you meet people on one bus and make friends then they leave you the next day as they are sticking rigidly to the time table most of the time and there arent many people staying extra nights like I am, so everytime I get on the bus I am having to meet new people all the time instead of travelling around with the same group, but at least I get to see each destination in more detail rather than making a quick visit! Originally, Charlotte Tom and I had decided that we would go to hot water beach where you can dig your own mud pools but you have to do it when its low tide and by the time we had woken up we were too late to do this so instead we went for a walk along the coast! To do this we had to walk to get the ferry which was about 15 minutes from the hostel! The ferry was NZ$4 return which we thought was really good value money, until we saw the route of the ferry and realised that we were being ripped off, as the ferry literally took us across a stretch of water no longer than 100m long, the distance it took us was ridiculously short and we were on the ferry no longer than 1 minute, the ferry was only a small old thing, and you could easily have walked acroos the water if you didnt mind getting wet! Once we were on the other side of the water, we headed to a lookout named Shakespeares lookout, from here there were unbelievable views for miles, it was again a lovely day and the sea was glistening, and we could the most amazing scenery, after this we headed along a beach that I forget the name of and we walked though the water and climbed over some rocks to make process before we got to another beach called Cooks Beach, it was completely deserted which was astonishing as it was a Saturday so everyone was off and the beaches were so nice yet they were empty which was such a crime really! But it meant that we had the beach to ourselves as we strolled along it before making our way into a really small village with a few shops where Charlotte and Tom brought some lunch, I had mine with me so ate that but brought 70 cents worth of penny sweets which I had in such a long time! After our brief rest we started to head back but went through a couple of streams where we noticed some fish swimming and also found this man made swing on the way back that was a big of rope hanging from a tree branch with a wooden seat attached at the bottom of it, so we all had a go on here before just chilling out on the beach for a while! After this we went back to get the ferry which goes back and forth for the whole day between this small strip of water and we were the only people on the ferry on the crossing back! We took a stroll through the town centre in Whitianga before making our way back to the hostel, where 30 minutes later another Kiwi Experience bus had arrived so there were more people to chat to, and these were the guys I would be getting the bus with the next day, the hostel made spagetti bolognaise for anyone that wanted to splash out NZ$7 every night, but again I decided to make my own pasta, although the spag bol did look good, you can feed yourself for such a long time on that amount of money that it really isnt good value for money! Many people did have the spag bol though, after dinner it was much the same as the night before, as there were people playing pool and watching movies, but that night I just sat at a table and chatted to a few people before going to bed at around 11am as it was to be an early start the next morning as I was off to Rotorua!
So Whitianga was a small town, but with spectacular views and scenery, in a very remote setting, with an exceptional hostel!
Missing everyone!
Love Toby xxx
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